The variety of television programming and media content sources continues to increase. In addition to scheduled television program broadcasts, television viewing options also include video-on-demand choices which enable a viewer to search for and request media content for viewing when convenient rather than at a scheduled broadcast time. A television system can include television client devices that receive the television programming and other selected media content via a broadcast network and/or an IP-based network (e.g., Ethernet).
One of the challenges with network DVR (digital video recorder) and video download solutions in an IPTV environment is the efficient delivery of requested media content to client devices in time for use by a subscriber. In addition to bandwidth, processor, and other limitations of a media content distribution system, the delivery of requested media content relies on a receiving client device being online and able to subscribe to a multicast from a content distributor to receive the media content. However, a television client device may get turned off either deliberately or during a power outage, or there may be other instances of problems with a media content distribution system or network that prevents a client device from receiving all or part of the requested media content.